what Francis said

I don’t know very much about Francis Chan, but my lovely wife recently appeared after a shopping trip with this book. I haven’t opened it or even looked at the dust jacket blurbs.

However, Todd Burus has done so and he has quoted a bit from inside that makes me want to ask my lovely wife where the book is.

In Matthew 16:24-25, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” And in Luke 14:33, He says, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples. I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go into the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He commanded? You’ll notice that He didn’t add, “But hey, if that’s too much to ask, tell them to just become Christians- you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything.” [Crazy Love, p.87]

Todd has also been working through the Baptist Faith and Message and in the article on Salvation appears this little nugget.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

Now I ask you, honestly, think a minute. Does the church you attend teach that someone can become a Christian without becoming a disciple? Does the church you attend teach that someone can become a Christian without making Jesus the Lord of their life?